Fears of Crion
by Screamin Wookiee
Summary: 2 years after Voyager got back from the Delta Quadrant Voyager is sent on a mission to scout a Borg outpost. But will the venture cost Voyager it's crew it's captain...or both?
1. CHapter 1

Chapter one

And there they were...2 Romulan Warbirds decloaked right in front of the Federation starship Voyager. Both were powering weapons and neither of them were responding to Voyagers hails...they were prepared to destroy them. Captain Janeway looked out the view port and asked "Whats our status Mr.Tuvok?" Tuvok looked at his console."Our shields are at 99.9 percent forward phaser banks are on-line and we have a complement of 32 photon torpedoes."

"I don't think thats not going to be enough." Janeway said as she pounded the arm of her chair and tried to think of something they could do."Janeway to engineering do you have the warp core back online yet?"

Be'lana's came over the comm."Not yet captain we're recalibrating the plasma injectors and thats going to take at least another hour or two."

_DANG it!_ Without the warp core we're stuck with no hope of escape. Then she thaught of something. "Tom how good of a pilot are you anyway?" He swiveled his chair around and faced her."It depends on what the situation is."

"Well this is a pretty desperate situation. I was wondering if you could get us out it."

He sat back in his chair and smiled. "You bet I could." She leaned forward in her chair and glared at him. "Well then I'd like it very much if you would get us out of it cause there are 150 people on this ship who will die if you don't!" Tom swiveled back around to face the conn. "Fine fine no need to get angry."

"Actually Tom this IS a time to get angry."

Paris turned his head towards the captain as if to glare at her but instead put an evil look on his face that made Janeway wonder what the heck she had just done. He reached under the conn and pulled an X-wing control deck from under it and placed it on the console. Two fiber optic cables from the bottom of the control deck latched on to the surface of the console and plugged themselves in.

"What are you doing Tom?"Janeway asked with worry in her voice.

"Just getting ready for the ride.Why?"

She looked at him as if he had hot dogs falling out of his ears and hoped in her heart that he wasn't about to do what she thaught he was going to do. "The Romulans are opening fire" Tuvok said right before a disruptor blast hit the shields.

"Shields are down to 85 and holding captain." Harry Kim said from his station as they suddenly accelerated. Paris had jacked the throttle to full and now had his hand on the joystick that was attached to the X-wing control board on top of the conn. They went forward at full speed right at the 2 Romulan Warbirds. Paris hit the rudder right at the last second turning the ship on it's side and speeding in between the two Warbirds. "TOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Janeway yelled at him.

"Doing what you said captain. Getting us out of this situation."

He had jacked the inertial compensaters down to 95 so he could feel every tight turn that they made to get the feel that he was flying an X-wing instead of a 100 ton starship.Unfortunately so did everybody else.

They pulled into another tight turn and sent Harry Kim to the other side of the bridge and held him there by the shear force of the turn until they came out of it.

They now faced the Warbirds and plunged towards them at full speed.

"Take THIS!" Yelled Paris as he pulled the trigger and fired all of the phasers at one of the Warbirds.

"The shields on that one Romulan ship are down to 65 captain"A frantic Harry kim said as they passed them.

"Tom I told you to get us out of the situation and not get everyone killed!"

"What do you think I'm doing captain?" He said as the Romulans finally caught on and began to pursue. She kept quiet as they were suddenly hit by a disruptor from one of the pursuing Warbirds.

"You want a piece of me? Well lets see about that."

He reversed the throttle so fast that tuvok fell over his console and fell into the captains lap. She pushed him off and stood up relizing to late that she just made a horrible mistake. Paris put the ship into a barrel roll and set throttle to full forward again.

Janeway was sent flying to the ceiling and fell down as they accelerated towards the unsuspecting warbirds.

Paris opened fire on the other Warbird this time with 16 photon torpedos that buckled it's shields and caused severe damage to it's left flank.

They continued to plow forward. Janeway looked out the view port and screamed as they grazed the shields of the the other ship.

Harry Kim once again scrambled to his station to check everything. "Shields are down to 15 captain!We can't take another hit like that!".

"Tom Quit this foolishness right NOW!!" He didn't hear her as he fired the last 16 photon torpedos at the Warbirds.The first five hit the already damaged ship and tore it up.

5 of other ten slammed into the other Warbird and took down it's forward shields just as the remaining five came and slammed into the same place one right after another tearing the ship apart from the inside out.

Tom cut throttle and disengaged the X-wing controls. He turned his seat around to face the captain and put a smile on his face.

"Whoo! Well that wasn't so bad was it?" He immediately wiped the smirk off his face as he saw the pure anger in the captains eyes. She looked as if she was about to blow all over the bridge.

"Tuvok?" Tuvok got up from the floor and stood in front of her. "Yes captain?"

"EscortTom down to the brig and keep him there until further notice"

"Aye captain." He said and took Paris by the arm. "That's gratitude for ya"Tomremarked as the turbolift door closed.

"Chakotay you have the bridge while I go beat my head aganst my desk." Janeway had never been so tired in her life.

The last thing she heard before the door to her ready room closed behind her was Chakotay saying "Yes captain".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Janeway looked up from her desk and realized she had been sleeping. She got up and started to walk towards the door when a com signal came from her desk. Oh great just what I need.She went back to her desk and turned on the terminal. The face of Admiral Karson popped up and the look on his face suggested he wasn't happy. "Hello Admiral."

"Hello Captain.I just heard from the Romulan senate. They said you destroyed two of they're Warbirds in five minutes flat. Now I was skeptical about this until we did a sensor sweep of the area your in and it shows a great deal of debris hanging around. Would you mind explaining this?"

She took a deep breath and started to tell the tale of the previous day's events. "I've got him in the brig right now.He's going to stay there until we reach the nearest starbase. Then we'll let him off there where ever it may be and you can punish him in any way you seem fit."

"That won't be possible Captain. Even if he has disrupted our negotiaions of peace with the Romulans, I need you to do this."

"What do you mean?"

"Right now we have a major problem on our hands that concerns the entire Federation. The Borg are building an army at the edge of the Delta Quadrant."

The words hit her like photon torpedos. Janeway knew what the Borg were and what they were capable of. She had faught more than her share of them and had picked one up and returned her partly back to what she once was. Whenever Janeway heard the word Borg she always demanded that whoever was talking about them to tell her what they were talking about. She was starting to become paranoid about them until one year previous to now. Now all those old fears and dreads resurfaced from the depths of her mind and once again took hold. She sat back in her seat and stared into space beyond her terminal. Why are the Borg building an army now when they could've done it a few years ago?

"Captain?" Startled she looked back at the terminal into the face of the admiral."Is everything OK captain?"

"Everything is fine admiral" In actuality, she wasn't sure if that was true or not but she didn't tell him that. "Ok now listen. I don't have enough troops to send out and your the closest one to the Borg's location and I was wondering if..."

"I could go and investigate.I know."

"Good.I hope to hear from you again after you check it out.Don't try anything stupid ok?"

"I'll try admiral"She said with a smile."Good.Karson out."

And with that the screen went blank.

Tom Paris did not like being in the brig at all. He had been in here before and nearly went crazy. Of course eventually he got used to it. _I don't know why the captain was so upset.I saved everyones lives didn't I? _He shook his head as he thaught about it. It had been a hair raising event for everyone on the ship. 50 people had come to see him so they could complain about some inconvenionce. Of course Neelix the ship's cook had been the one to really complain. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO MY BEAUTAFUL PANS PARIS!!" He could still hear Neelix in the room saying that. The memory seemed to just play itself over and over. He remembered the last time a memory had replayed itself in his mind. He had been framed about killing someone and that man's last memory of life was integrated into his own brain where he saw an imposter of himself kill the man through that mans eyes. He felt the pain it had inflicted on him again as he remembered. Of course that wasn't the case this time. Neelix's words of anger always hung around for a while. His thaughts were disturbed as First Officer Commander Chakotay walked in.

"Hello Tom. The captain told me to bring this by."

"What is it?"

"It's a list of all the damage you did."

Chakotay slipped the datapad in through the hole where food trays were given to the prisoner. Tom looked through the list and stopped when he came to the fifth one. "A near warp core brech!?How?"

"Since you had the inertial compensaters down to 95 when you did that roll one of the magnetic constrictors came off line and plasma was flung to the side of the core, and it nearly melted through the duranium. We had to eject the core and repair it in space." He looked at Tom and anger started to build.

"If anything like this happens again Starfleet is going to kick you out Tom."

"Doesn't matter anyway Chakotay. My career in Starfleet ends when we reach the next starbase."

"We won't be at the starbase for a while."

"Why not?"

"We have a mission to perform. I'm not allowed to tell you about it. But if it becomes necessary I'll tell you."

And with that he left. Tom stared at the door until it closed behind Chakotay and started to to read the rest of the damage report.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

They had surrounded her and started closing in. She looked for a gap in between them but found none. They were Borg.Each of them looking nearly the same. One of them had his arm stretched out in front of him with two worm-like appendages portruding from his knuckles. Slowly they closed in on her and grabbed her arms as the one with his Nano-injectors stretched out stuck them in her neck. She gasped as she struggled to maintain her own mind. The Nano-Probes traveled through her blood stream attacking every cell, molocule, and atom changing them from organic to machine. Her skin color changed to a grayish green and a strange device portruded from her right cheek.Pain shot through her as this happened...but she didn't care for she...was...Borg!

Janeway sat straight up in her bed breathing heavily. It had been a nightmare...a very horrible nightmare. She pulled on her bath robe and hurried over to her mirror to make sure nothing was happening to her. Her skin color was normal except for the fact that she was kind of white and shaky due to the dream. There were no machines sticking out of her and she was very aware of herself. She went back to bed relieved and frightened at the same time. The Borg were a cruel race bent on domination and the aquiring of new technology. The Borg were first encountered by captain Picard where they found out that the Borg were much more advanced than any other race in the galaxy. They were a people who were half organic half machine. More machine than anything else though. They belonged to one mind, one collective. All of they're thaughts were shared by everyone. There were no individuals that thaught for themselves...except for the queen. She was most vile of all of them. No one knows how they came into being or what they once were. All anyone knew was that they didn't want to be one of them.

Slowly Janeway went back to sleep and was awoken two hours later by the signal her terminal gave when she had a new transmission coming through.Reluctently she went over and turned on the terminal to see Admiral Karson.

"Sorry for disturbing you captain but it's a matter of some urgancy."

"What is it Admiral?"The admiral shuffled some datacards around his desk and picked one up.

"This datapad has the location of the Borg.I'm sending you the cordinates now."The data appeared on the bottom of her screen and she looked at it and frowned."The Crion Nebula?Why there?"

"The Nebula has a high level of nutrogenic rays that disrupts senors and weapons except for they're own. Although they don't effect the shields so you should be able to remodulate them to repel the nutrogenic rays so you can fire weapons. But your sensors will still be useless. "His expression went sour."I'm not sure you'll come out of this alive let alone your own selves. If you want I can send out messages from your crew to they're familys letting them know that they might not be coming back."

"Thats very kind admiral. I'll give an announcement before we leave on the mission. Thank you."

"Anytime Captain. Karson out." The screen went blank and Janeway went back to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Janeway gave the announcment that if anyone wanted to notify his or her family they were to write it down and give it to Janeway so she could have Tuvok send them out. Eventually the news was known shipwide even in the brig. When Tom found out about how dangerous the mission was he knew he didn't want his his wife or child on the ship. He knew Be'lana wouldn't want to leave the ship just because of a dangerous mission. But the fact that this mission had a 65 chance of failing would eventually persuade her to take shore leave with they're daughter on a planet that was far away from the place they were heading to. _She may be half klingon but the human side of her will remind her that we have a child to protect_. His thaughts were interupted by Tuvok coming into the brig. "Mr.Paris.I have come to receive any messages or requests you might wish to send before the mission."

"Well my father is a starfleet admiral so he probably already knows about it. I do have a request though."

"And what might that be?"

"I want you to leave My wife Be'lana and our daughter on the klingon homeworld before we leave."

"May I ask why you wish to leave them behind?"

"I don't want them to be harmed. I know that we're probably going after the Borg. I know I wasn't supposed to know but its not hard to figure out. The fact that the captain sent out an announcment telling us to inform our familys that theres the possability that we might not come back pretty much gave the whole thing off."

"I did not ask how you knew about it."Tuvok stated bluntly.

"Of course you didn't. But that doesn't mean you weren't thinking it."

"Shall I tell Be'lana that she will be laft behind?" Tom sat and thaught about it. "No. Tell her to come here...I'll tell her."

"Very well."And then Tuvok left.

"You want me to WHAT?!" The words came out of her mouth and just seemed to hang in the air around him. _Now comes the hard part_. Her face was red with anger and surprise. "You heard me.I want you to take our daughter and stay with her on the Klingon homeworld. Is there a problem with that"

"YES theres a problem. I don't like the Klingon homeworld even if I am part Klingon. I don't want to be there if anything happens to you either."

"But what if something happens to YOU? Or our daughter? What will you do then?"

"I..." She trailed off trying to think of a reason. But she came up with nothing and turned away from him. Tom stood up and turned her head around so he could look her in he eyes.

"I love you and our daughter, and I don't want you two to get hurt. But another part of the reason is I don't want her to grow up without knowing who her parents are. Even if your the only parent she knows."

Be'lana looked down tears beginning to swell in her eyes. She wiped them away but it didn't help. Tears were already running down her face. She was silent for a little while longer and then spoke. "Alright.I'll stay with her on the Klingon homeworld. I'm just going to worry my eyes out about you I suppose."

"Is that the reason you wanted to come along?"

"Part of it. The other part is the fact that I'll be surrounded by people who think honor is everything and I'm worried that they'll call me an outcast due to lack of it. Its really not a very comforting thaught."

"Hmmm...Well then good luck."

"Thanks. Good luck to you too." Tom smiled and then embraced her in a long kiss. Perhaps the last one they'd ever share together.


	5. Chapter 5

Note: Thanks for reviewing Erin-Turnbull. Chapters 5 through 11 have been uploaded(I've been working on this a while). I don't know the name of Tom & Be'lana's daughter so she is just refered to as daughter. I a have also forgotten what some of the crew members of Voyager were like (except Tuvok and Neelix) so unless you haven't noticed some of their behavior kind of off. Sorry for not posting this information sooner.

Chapter 5

The next morning Tom was released from the brig and the laid in a course for the Klingon homeworld. Tom was helping Be'lana pack when the captain called him to her ready room. When Tom got there she was staring out the window out into deep space. She turned around to face him. "Mr.Paris."

"Yes captain?"

"I want you to know that I think your a wonderful pilot and all...but.I don't want you to do anything like what you did to those warbirds EVER again. Understood?"

"Yes captain."

"Good. Because on this mission I need to know that I can count on you to follow my orders and not do anything thats out of line. Clear?"

"Yes captain." He could still sense a little bit of anger in her voice. Ever since the little run in with the two Romulan Warbirds Janeway didn't seem to be the nicest person on the ship. Whenever someone was in her way she growled untill they moved. No one knew why either...it was as if she'd been posessed by some demon. Whatever the reason the crew eventually got used to it...except Tom was still curious about it. She turned back to the window. "You can leave now Mr.Paris."

"Theres something wrong isn't there?"

She whipped her head around so fast he could hear the rush of the air being blown out of the way. "NO.Theres nothing wrong." She snapped. Suddenly she felt tired and sat down. She had been on her toes about everything they encountered the whole trip. Janeway thaught she could keep it together but when she thaught about it she wasn't so sure.

Janeway finally spoke again breaking the silence. "Ok there is something wrong."

"What is it?"

"Its this whole mission. I'm not sure if I should of accepted it or not. I feel like I'm sending everyone on this ship to they're death or assimilation."

"Sound like you haven't been getting enough sleep."

"I haven't. I try to goto sleep but I end up just lying there with my eyes wide open. I've tried several of the docter's sedatives but nothing seems to work. I need a vacation."

"You need to remember we're just going to check everything out report back to the Federation and leave."

"I know Tom but I just can't get the feeling out of me. Hows Be'lana?"

"Shes not very happy about going to the Klingon homeworld but she stopped complaining about it."

"Good. Why did you choose for her and your daughter to stay there of all places?"

Tom stared for a couple of seconds before speaking. "I wanted them to be safe. It's the only place I know thats a freind of the Federation and far away from the Crion Nebula. I also chose it because of all the Klingons. You know how they get when the Borg are around."

Janeway smiled remembering the time she had been on they're home world when the Borg attacked. A Borg sphere had come and the Klingons had transported two hundred of they're best warriors over to the sphere. Armed with Bat'leths they slaughtered the Borg on baord and took the sphere down to the surface of the planet for study. Many of the weapons they had developed were very useful against the Borg. Except the weapons were only prototypes and still needed much work.

"Yes.I remember. Maybe your right. I think I'll try to get a little more rest on the way there. Dismissed"

"Aye captain."And than he left.

After he left the captains ready room Chakotay ran up to him.

"Hello luetenant."

"Hey there Chakotay."

"Would you please call me by rank on the bridge?"

"Fine. Commander."

"Thank you. I wanted to ask you about this...aperatus you used against those Romulan Warbirds." He gestured towards the conn that still had the X-wing control deck on it.

"Yeah what about it?"

"We can't seem to get it off. The only thing we've been able to do with it so far is pilot the ship manually and set in a course for the planet you chose to leave Be'lana on. I wanted to ask you how to remove it."

Tom walked over to the conn. He hit a switch on the side of the device and the two cables retracted. He pulled it off the conn and saw two marbel sized holes in the conn. "Umm...I'll get a repair team...on that."

"Don't bother. I want you to do it."

"Me?"

"You did the damage...you fix it. By the way...What kind of cables are those?" He pointed at the bottem of the control deck where the cables had retracted to.

"Fiber optic cables."

"Really?"Chakotay reached under the device and tapped one of the holes the wires had retracted to. Both of the cables popped out and tried to latch onto his hands. "They don't look like fiber optics."

Tom looked at him sheepishly. "Ok they're actually borg injection tubes. Seven helped me construct them." Chakotay stared at him disbeleivingly. Seven had been a Borg once. But they were able to remove most of her Borg components so she was almost all human again. "I find it hard to beleive that Seven would help construct such a device. How did you persuade her?" Tom feinged seaching his memory and then blurted out "I'll fix the conn now." and ran off to get a tool kit. Chakotay shook his head and went back to work.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Be'lana Tom and they're daughter had been waiting in the transporter room for half an hour. They had arrived aat the Klingon homeworld that day and had spent the last half hour waiting for clearence to beam down. Tom was getting very impatiant. _C'mon already. Every second wasted here is more time for the Borg to carry out they're objectives_. Be'lana was tense and paced around the room nervously. Tom rarely saw Be'lana like this. The only time she was nervous was when they were in serious trouble and she had to make split second decisions that could save they're lives, and thats exactly how she looked now. She was kind of red in the face, sweaty, and the look on her face suggested that everyone around her had better stay away. She felt like punching someone or something at the moment. Finally the captain spoke over the comm.

"Be'lana we just heard from your mother's half of your family and they said you can stay with them for the time of your stay."

"Is that supposed to be good news?"

"I'll ignore that...we have clearance to beam you down to the surface. I would just like to wish you luck on this trip.

"Thanks captain, I'm going to need it." She stopped pacing and went over to the transporter pad where Tom was putting down the bags of clothes and a few other things they had packed for the trip. They're daughter who was watching went over to stand next to Be'lana.

"Now your sure we have everything?"

"Don't worry about it Be'lana everything will be fine.Just hope your family doesn't decide to have any P'lath for dinner." She smiled for the first time since she decided to stay on the Klingon homeworld. P'lath was an extremely spicey dish served inside a pouch made of th'kot hide. It was normally served at a celebration. But she silently hoped there would be none while she was there.

"Ok. I love you."

"I love you to." He turned to look at his daughter. "Now you be good for mommy, ok?" She nodded and he kissed both of them on the forehead and then said "Energize" and they were gone.

When they rematerialized they found themselves surrounded by relatives Be'lana had never seen before. Since she had been raised in a colony where she and her mother were the only Klingons she never got to see any of her aunts or uncles (Who are pretty darn old) or her cousins.

Then one Klingon male stepped forward. He stopped right in front of Be'lana and withdrew a knife. He held it at waist level and waited.

She looked at the knife and then at him. Not knowing what else to do she grabbed the blade of the knife. The Klingon waited a little longer seeing that she didn't understand what to do next and yanked the knife back cutting her hand.

It took a couple seconds for the pain to register in her mind, and when it did she let out a yelp and clutched her hand tightly. Blood ran through her fingers and anger spewed forth. "What was THAT for?!" She demanded.

"We have welcomed you into the family."

"Wasn't I already part of the family?"

He looked at her as if she had turned into a Romulan and said "You are part of the family by blood yes. But when a family member has never visited his or her family ever, it is our custom to bring the person into the family by spilling the blood from they're hand as a symbol of renewal. You have been accepted."

There was a cheer from the other family members surrounding her and they placed a belt with a knife in it's scabord on her. Then they led her to the celebration at her aunt Chokan's house where they feasted on all sorts of foods and drinks. There was roasted Dik'ai a reptillian avian that was found inside caves and other dark places. They also had live Gorth. Gorth was an insect that ate "stuff" off of dead animals. There were lots of other dishes including...P'lath. _Great_. Be'lana stared at the unsavorydish and sighed. It was going to be a long visit.


	7. Chapter 7

chapter 7

Janeway sat in the mess hall looking out the large viewport that dominated the north wall. She had woken up from the same disturbing nightmare that she'd been having every night since she was sent on this mission. No matter how much she tried she couldn't get the disturbing images out of her head. It was like having a memory burned into her mind and then having it replay itself over and over without end. She had been awoken from her sleep 3 hours ago and it was almost 0700 hours. Neelix the ship's cook would be coming in any second now to get breakfast for the crew going. She sipped the coffee that she had brought with her. The taste was rather bland but at least it wasn't the awful replicator rations she'd had to live with when she was out in the Delta Quadrant two years ago. Afer she had gotten back to earth with the help of her future self who had come to the past to get them home sooner, she had been offered a promotion to Admiral. Janeway had refused it but now wondered if her decision had been the right choice. Her thoughts were disturbed as Neelix walkd into the mess hall.

"Captain? Are you here AGAIN?"

"Yes I'm afraid so Neelix."

He walked up to where she sat and plopped down next to her.

"That makes this what? The uh...sixth time this has happened?"

"Actually the eighth time Neelix. I don't know what I'm going to do when we actually encounter the Borg, but I know I'll be in no condition to deal with them. I've tried every sedative on the ship but nothing works." She hung her head and stared into her cup of coffee.

"You know captain I have just the thing to make you sleep." He went into the kitchen and pulled down a container filled with powder and went back over to the captain. He pulled off the lid and smelled it.

"Ah, Tongarian Fiso leaf. Its harvested one day of the year and then turned into this powder and used as a powerful sedative. Much better than all of those chemicals they use in sick bay."

Janeway smelled the powder and wrinkled her nose at the stench. It smelled like sulfer mixed with garlic and curdled milk. She nearly passed out it smelled so bad. "Neelix are you sure this stuff works?"

"Oh quite certain. If it doesn't you could always try some of my special worm scothi-"

"Never mind. Ill take this."

"Ok captain." He got a spoon and mixed some in with her coffee. She took a sip and suddenly her head started reeling. She felt like she was being lifted off the ground as if there was no gravity.

"Captain? Are you alright?"

She barely heard him and found herself unable to say anything. Her sight started to blur and light started to become darkness. And then total black. She immediately found herself in the nightmare. She watched as the borg closed in and assimilated her and when the dream reached it's usual climax she didn't wake up. The dream continued, suddenly everything around her faded and turned into th inside of a borg cube where alcoves were all along the wall filled with borg. She just stood there motionless waiting for orders for her to carry out. At the end of the wall in the very last alcove one of the drones looked like a crew member from Voyager, but she couldn't tell who. She started to walk torward it when she heard someone laughing at her from behind. She turned around to see the hideous face of the Borg Queen! The Queen just stared at her laughing menacingly. Janeway turned away to see that the Borg at the end of wall was slumped over...he was dead. She walked over to him and looked at his face only to see the face of Tom Paris. She let go and backed up from him into the hands of another borg who reached his arm to the side of her head. She felt something explode and she fell down on the floor and started to shudder. They had destroyed her command node, without it she couldn't move(except for involuntary movements). The Queen leaned over her raised one arm as if to strike her and right as she started to bring her arm down...Janeway woke up.

She was in sick bay. The docter stood next to her shaking her and urging her to wake up. She looked around trying to remember what the last thing she had done was. Eventually she remembered that she had been in the mess hall when Neelix had spooned some of the Tangarian Fiso Leaf into her coffee to sedate her.

"At last your awake captain. You were so far gone that I almost had to put you in stasis."

"What? Why?" She immediately sat up and was forced to lay back down on the sleeping pad in sick bay for scanning.

"For lack of elecrolites of course. Apparently you had an allergic reaction to the Fiso Leaf and it made you sleep much longer than you should have. I think it would be best for you to get something to eat right now. " He stopped scanning her and went to his office.

Janeway watched him leave and then looked to her right to see Neelix standing there with a worried look on his face.

"I am so sorry captain. I had no idea. One minute you were-"

"How long was I sleeping?"

"Oh uh for about...um...I would say about two days"

Her eyes bulged and she immediately hopped off the bed and stood for a couple seconds to regain her balance. "What!?How far away are we from the nebula?"

"Thats why we had to wake you up captain. We're going to reach the nebula in less than ten minutes."

"Then lets get to the bridge."

"But captain. The docter said you need to eat. You havn't eaten anything in two days."

"Sorry Neelix but I can't just sit around eating while we're about to reach the nebula. My place is at the bridge."

"But captain!"

"Sorry Neelix lets go."

The docter stopped them on the way out. "Captain I believe it is my duty to remind you that the medical officer on board has authority over the captain when it comes to health. Well right now I'm ordering you to get something to eat."

She looked at him and then at Neelix and hung her head in defeat."Alright. I'll go get something to eat." and then she left for the mess hall.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Janeway sat in her chair on the bridge and waited for them to drop out of warp. She was starting to get more nervous now that they stood practically on the Borg's doorstep. The fact that her stomach ached didn't help. When she got to the mess hall a sudden hunger had overcome her and she ate almost everything on the menu and had mistaken one of the ferns for a salad. Neelix had told her that the fern she had eaten was used on some planets as a cleaning agent and contained a large amount of bacteria that ate away at dead organic material. Neelix however confirmed that it wasn't fatal. Right now she could feel the food in her stomach being slowly digested by it and wondered if she should've taken the treatment that the docter had suggested. She let out a small moan. Chakotay looked at her.

"Are you ok captain?"

She looked at him and smiled faintly

"Not as well as I should be but I'm fine."

"Mmm."

"we're dropping out of warp captain.stand by." Tom said from the conn. Slowly the ship came out of warp.

"Onscreen."Janeway said as she stood up.The large screen that dominated the north wall changed into a view of the Crion Nebula. The yellowish orangish clouds swirled in front of them.

"Take us in Tom.One half impulse.Engage."

Slowly the large ship plunged into the nebula.

"Sensors and weapons are offline captain. As anticiapted the nutrogenic rays have disabled them." Tuvok stated plainly from the tactical station.

"Change the shield modulation to compensate Tuvok."

"Yes captain."

The bridge was silent as they went deeper and deeper into the nebula.Eventually Tuvok spoke up.

"I have made the necessary changes to the shields captain. Our weapons are back online."

"Thank you Tuvok." she said after a little while.They continued through the nebula hoping that they wouldn't be detected. Janeway fidgeted with her rank insignia and shifted in her chair. Chakotay noticed her unease.

"Is there a problem captain?" He asked cautiously. She worked her jaw for a moment and then replied "Yes. It's this mission. I have a strange feeling about it but I can't seem to...put my finger on it. I had a dream last night. Or rather the last two days. I was assimilated by the Borg...and the queen was...trying to kill me. Of course considering what we did to the them the last few times we encountered them in the Delta quadrant I'm not surprised."

Chakotays nodded.

"There was also someone else there to. But I can't remember who."

"Perhaps it was a vision."

"It better not be. Personally I've had it with the Borg. What is their facination with trying to assimilate US anyway? Why not the Romulans or the Cardassians?"

"The motives of the Borg are strange and unknown. They do not think the way we do."

Janeway rolled her eyes "Boy thats for sure. I still-"

"Captain. I think you'd better see this." Tom said.Janeway looked up and gasped. Out there among the clouds were borg cubes and spheres. But that wasn't what had caught her attention. What did was the frame of a much larger ship...An Exterminator-class Borg Cube. Janeway tried to speak but nothing came out. "There are fifteen Borg Cubes and Six Spheres." Harry said. "And one-"

"I know what it is Harry!" She barked. _This isn't my day_. Exterminator Borg Cubes were 6 borg cubes long, wide, and deep.Unlike it's smaller counterpart Exterminators were seldom seen and had ten times the fire power of one standard Borg Cube. They can hold over one hundred thousand Borg drones and have over four hundred phasers and three hundred photon torpedo bays...like they would ever use that many. Although considering how much resistance they'd meet while tring to take over the galaxy, they seemed to have prepared quite nicely. Janeway was so scared she could barely keep herself from shaking. Everyone else seemed to be the same way. Even Tuvok who was usually emotionless seemed a little scared.Finally Janeway spoke "Tom...take us out of here...slowly. We don't want to attract any attention."

"You got it captian."

No sooner had they begun to turn around when suddenly Harry Kim shouted "Looks like we've already attracted attention. Several Borg Cubes have just taken positions behind, in front, and to the sides of the ship!"

Janeway's heart skipped. They were trapped...trapped like lab rats in a maze. _Yup this is definately not my day...not at ALL._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

On Board the Exterminater-class Borg Cube, the Borg Queen watched with interest what was going on outside. She had succeeded in allowing the Federation ship to see them and then silentely move her ships into place. _And now Janeway we will see who survives THIS encounter_. The Queen had had too many little encounters with Janeway. All of which had resulted in disaster. But this time she had no intention of losing...again. She had planned this assault too well for it to go wrong. She would finally succeed in assimilating the Federation and all the systems that had joined it. She smiled coldly as she listened to the voices of the collective. She could hear every drone in the collective no matter where they were. By the standards of anyother speices that would be a violation of personal space. Of course in Borg society there was no such thing as personal space. They were all part of a hive mind where thaughts were shared by all. Individuality was non existant. Which is why no one was assimilated willingly. One of the drones next her muttered something to her. His voice was sort of garbled but it was understandable.

"We have succeeded in trapping the ship Voyager."

"Thank you six of fifteen. Open a channel so that I may speak to them."

He obeyed without an objections. She liked that. "Channel open." he stated.

_Show time._

"Captain we're being hailed." Harry said.

Janeway got up from her chair "Onscreen." The picture started out kind of fuzzy but started to gain focus. Soon they could make out what it was they were seeing. The Borg Queen stood there in all her uglyness with a few drones working on something behind her.

"Hello captain. We meet again."

Janeway just stood there not saying a word. "I'm sure you know that I've trapped your little Federation ship. I was so hoping that you would try to escape."

"We're not that stupid lady." Tom muttered under his breath. But the Queen heard it anyway. "Oh really Paris. Is that why you decided to come here and check out the strange signals we've been sending out?"

Janeway spoke up "We had no intention of coming here until Admiral Karson told us to. Now what do you want?"

The Queen smiled grimly "Your ship and it's crew of course, and soon it will be. As soon as we finish the construction of my new battle station."

"Harry terminate the communication."

"Yes captain" he replied.

The screen changed back to a view of the nebula with the Borg activity in the background. Janeway slumped in her chair and then jumped as a loud horrible noise started blaring over the comm channel.

"Harry whats going on?" She demanded

Harry was working franticly trying to find the source of the problem. Finally he found it...but he didn't like it. "I found the source of the problem. The Borg transmited a subroutine that will only allow us to terminate visual contact. It won't allow me to shut down the sound channel or the reciever."

Great. Not only were they stuck out her but now they also had to endure whatever the Borg Queen decided to transmit over the comm system.

"Chakotay your in command. I'll be in my ready room."

"Yes captain." An unseen voice said.

Janeway stood up and turned to look at Harry. "I take it we're also transmitting consantly too?

"Unfortunately."

She sighed and went into her ready room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Things on Klingon had started out ok but soon everything changed from good to bad. And usually when things go bad they get worse. Well that was certainly no exception for Be'lana. Whenever she tried to do something one of her relatives always seemed to stop by for a visit and rattle off some story about his or her experiances in battle. And Be'lana quite frankly was sick of it. When she first got here she thaught everything would be alright. Well apparently she had been wrong. "I wish I'd been left on Romulas." she mumbled quietly to herself...but she didn't say it as quietly as she had thaught. Her uncle Bo'Thuk suddenly perked up after she made the comment and made her wish she'd never said it.

"And just what do you mean by THAT?" he demanded angrily. "C'mon woman, SPEAK."

"Alright, fine." she said and moved over to where her uncle was sitting. "Ever since I got here you people have been making my life a living nightmare. Whenever I try to go out on a walk with my daughter or try do anything else one of you always calls my attention away from whatever I want to do so you can just tell me another one of your boring tales about battle and honor. Oh and don't tell me about how I don't have to listen to you because believe me I know. It's just that you always MAKE me listen. And I'm TIRED of it!!"

Bo'Thuk blinked a couple times and snorted. He worked his jaw a few times and spoke. "We were just trying to help you." Boy that was the wrong thing to say, and he realized it the second he saw the look on her face. "Your trying to help me? Is that so? Well I'll tell you how you can help me and that is to ship me and my daughter of this forsaken rock and free us from all of you honor hungry idiots!" She got up and hurried out the door. He sat there a moment and thaught about what she'd said. What she'd said made sense. They were taking up a lot of her free time. But on the other hand they were also trying to bring her family honor. And they couldn't do that unless she co-operated. She also didn't lke her klingon heiritage so that didn't help either. But being part Klingon wasn't something tobe ashamed about. But apparentely to her it was. Whatever the reason she had for not wanting to be part Klingon he didn't know. But he would make sure he found out.

It was cold inside the conference room aboard Voyager. Very cold. And the fact that the Borg could listen to whatever they said no matter where they were on the ship just seemed to make it colder. Which made Tom wonder why in the galaxy they were in here to begin with. Tom looked at the Janeway and noted that she seemed to be a bit jumpy today. _Of course with a Borg Exterminater out there who wouldn't? _Janeway was about to speak when suddenly an awfull noise erupted from the comm system. Not quite like the last one they had heard about two days ago which sounded like someone banging their head against a microphone. This sounded more like thousands of voices talking at the same time.

"Whats that noise?!" Janeway yelled over the sound. But no one could make out what she was saying because the volume of the noise increased. Everyone coverd their ears. Soon it was so loud that the transparent alluminum window threatened to shatter. and then as abruptly as it had started the sound's speed increased and shut off. Everyone just stared at each other for a while, and then a sinister voice came over the comm system. "I hope you enjoyed the music Janeway."

"If you call that music then I'm a Talaxian frankfurter."

The voice cackled "That was the voices of the collective. Remarkable isn't it?"

"Remarkable is one way to put it." Janeway said blandly "another way to desrcibe it is annoying."

The voice continued "Well then maybe I should help you get used to it. Because after all you will be joining the collective very soon.

"I wouldn't count on it your Highness. I was assimilated once before if you remember correctely."

"Yes I remember. How could I forget what you did to the Borg. Which is why I am going to assimilate your crew...and then have you executed."

Janeway thaught back to her dream. The part where the Queen destroyed her command node and then tried to kill her...it HAD been a vision...which meant. She looked over at Tom and remembered the drone from her dream...slumped over at his alcove with the face of Tom Paris...dead.

Tom saw her staring at him. He cocked his head to the side "Captain?"

Janeway turned away from him towards the viewport. _NO_ she thaught. _This can't be. It just CAN'T_. Or could it? It seemed like everything she had worked for, and believed in was coming crashing down on her. The noise of the Borg abruptly started again this time it didn't end. It just kept going. The sinister voice returned "I will let you and your crew listen to this for the next week to prepare them for their assimilation."

And then the voice was heard no more.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Seven was in astronautics when she heard the noise. She stopped what she was doing and listened. The noise was strange, and familiar. The noise suddenly ceased. She looked around for a couple seconds and decided to think nothing of it. She went back to what she was doing. She had been woking for another five minutes when the noise returned. This time she listened more closely. It sounded like voices overlapping each other. She decided to run a computer analysis on the sound to test her theory."Computer, is the current sound made up of voices?"

"Affirmative" came the computer's distinct voice.

"Exactly how many voices are there?"

"Currently verifying that information please wait."

While the computer did that she decided to run a scan of the nebula. She didn't find much. The nebula was made up of all the gases that were common in nebulas...except one. She decided to take a closer look at it. The gas was made up of three unknown substances.

She was about to run a scan of it when the computer finished its scan of the noise. She looked at the number of voices and her heart skipped a beat. There were sixty-eight-trillion-seventy-four-billion-five-hundred-million-eight-thousand-three-hundred-twelve voices speaking at once. She decided to not to worry about it and concentrate on the gas in the nebula.

The gas was quite abundant in the nebula. Only a few spots in the nebula didn't have the gas floating around. She decided to look at the molecular structure of the three substances that were unknown. She started an analysis on all three simultaniously so it would take less time to determine what they were. Seven remembered the noise and braught her attention back to it.

Since the Queen had sent a subroutine into the comm system it was obvious that she meant to have the noise disrupt everyones sleep so that no one would be able to give any resistance when the time came to assimilate them. Or in her case RE-assimilate.

The thaught made her shudder. At one time she may have been glad that this had happened. But not anymore. Being an individual again had given her a freedom she had never known, and now the Queen wanted to take it away from her...and every one else on board. But Seven wasn't going to let her. She would make sure the Queen lost this battle no matter what the cost. But she had a duty aboard this vessel and that always came first. Personal battles would have to be faught later. She returned her attention to the substances and began her research.

Janeway tried to relax in her quarters but wasn't very successful. She couldn't get the word doom out of her head, and the noise which continued mercilessly wasn't helping. She sat in her chair...in the dark...alone wondering if they would ever make it out of this mess. She stared at the blank wall in front of her without blinking. Her eyes were bloodshot and itchy. She hadn't left her quarters or had any sleep in three days. All she could hear was the noise...over...and over...and over...and over...

Suddenly the door chime rang. Janeway just sat there without answering. The door chime rang again. Janeway still didn't respond. The Borg's noise had been playing so long that other noises no longer registered...or at least they occasionally did. The door opened and Tuvok walked in. Still Janeway did not respond. She just sat there staring. Tuvok walked over to her and passed his hand in front her eyes. Janeway flinched, blinked a couple times, and looked around. She looked up at Tuvok who looked calm and passive.

"Do you mind?" She bit out.

"Captian. Seven wishes to speak with you. She says it isvery urgent."

"Is that so? Tell her to meet me later."

"Seven said it can't wait till later."

"I really don't care at the moment. I'll see her later. Unless you can tell me what it is she wants to talk about."

Tuvok nodded. "Very well. Seven has found something in the nebula but has refused to tell me. She insisted that she tell you and only you in a secure area."

"Well unless she hadn't noticed, no area on board is secure."

"I reminded her of this. She claims to have found a way of communicating which will allow you to speak to her without the Borg hearing."

Janeway snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it. But I geuss theres no harm in seeing what shes got. Send her in."

Seven poked her head through the door. Tuvok motioned to her and she stepped into the room and stopped in front of Janeway.

"Hello Captian. You may leave us now Tuvok."

Tuvok nodded and left the room. After the door had shut Seven gave Janeway a small device which looked like an old earphone which had been used in the early twenty-first century. Janeway put it in her ear and Seven placed a similar one into her own and tapped a switch. Janeway did the same, After she tapped the switch she heard the awfull Borg noise fade out untill it was heard no more. Janeway sighed in relief. She tried to speak to Seven but no sound came out. She gave Seven a wierd look and motioned to her ear hoping she'd understand. Seven pulled two other devices from her pocket and gave one to Janeway. This one connected to the ear device and dangled near the mouth. Janeway again did what Seven had done and waited.

"Can you hear me Captian?"

"Yes." Her voice sounded different and she wondered if it had anything to do with the device Seven had given her.

"Good. These devices create anti-sonic wave bubbles around our ears and mouth. Absolutely no sound can get through."

_So thats what these things do._

"Anyway, I've just discovered a new gas in this nebula that doesn't exist in any other."

Janeway nodded. "Go on."

"The gas is made up of three substances unknown to everyone in the galaxy...including the Borg. I still haven't gotten around to naming them, but in the time you were in here I conducted several experiments on the gas. The data I recieved from those experiments show that the gas is highly unstable and can create an incredible explosion if exposed to nutrion particles."

"But the only places Nutrion particles are found are in phaser blasts and warp explosions."

"True. But one of the substances I mentioned earlier is slowly producing them. If exposed to too many nutrionic particles the other two substances fuse and ignite the gas completely destabilizing it and creates a micro super nova. If that were to happen to this nebula the resulting explosion would be equal to twenty anti-matter bombs."

Janeway's eyes bulged. "I'm glad I haven't had to engage the Borg in combat yet."

Seven's expression didn't change. "Relax. Phasers don't have enough Nutrion particles to set of the gas and there won't be enough Nutrions to destroy the nebula for another century. So we're relativley safe."

Suddenly an idea hit Janeway. "Seven. Could we used a warp core explosion to set the nebula off early?"

Seven looked at her like she was some crazy psycho-lady. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Just answer the question."

Seven sighed. "Yes. But in doing so we would endanger our lives and the lives of the..." She trailed off as she saw what Janeway had in mind. Janeway grinned evily. Then she realized something which made her grin widen. Her so called "vision" had been a nightmare...nothing more. Janeway stood "Lets go Seven. We have a lot to do."


	12. Chapter 12

After a month of writing rewritng and writers block it's finally finished...this chapter is anyway.

Chapter 12

Tom sat in his quarters trying to tune out the nasty Borg noise. He looked at a picture of B'lana holding Miral when she was two weeks old. Looking at the picture made him long to see his beloved family again. But with the Borg going to assimilate them in three days it didn't look like he was going to see them again. He looked outside at the massive Exterminator-Cube. It had more cubes attatched to it now. Borg cubes came daily and hooked themselves up to the massive ship to construct it. _The Borg must not have much patience_. Tom shook his head. All hope had nearly vanished from the crew. No one smiled or laughed anymore. Not even Neelix who usually buzzed around the ship happy as a Klingon who had come back from battle victorious. Tom turned away from the window. He was trying to decide whether to replicate some coffee when the door chimed. "Come in." he called and Seven stepped inside. _Uh-oh_. "Hello lieutenant." she said calmly. "I am here to-"

"Chakotay sent you didn't he?" Tom interrupted. Seven confused asked "No. Why would he?"

"Never mind. So what is it you were going to tell me?" He said quickly hoping to avoid an argument. Seven pulled a device out of her pocket and handed it to Tom. "Here. This will allow you to talk to other people who wear this device without the Borg overhearing. You and all the other senior officers will be wearing one at the conference today." Tom took the device and looked at it. "Its a bit primitive but it was all I could do on short notice."

"How do I put it on?" Tom asked. Seven pointed to the earphone "That end goes into your ear-" she then pointed to the microphone "-and that end dangles near your mouth." Tom did as instructed and felt around for an on switch. He found something on the earpeice and flicked it. Without warning the noise quit and dead silence overcame the room. Tom looked around so did Seven. "Does this thing tune OUT sound as well?" Tom asked. Seven turned her attention back to Tom. "Yes but...you didn't turn it on. Otherwise I wouldn't of been able to hear you. For some strange reason the noise stopped." Tom pulled the device off his ear. She was right. The sound which had been broadcasting for four days straight had ceased. Then a voice came... "Hello puny biological lifeforms. I have chosen to stop transmitting and reset your communications equipment back to normal since you don't seem to appreciate it. I was so hoping you would. Especially you Seven-of-Nine. I thaught you wouldn't mind listening to your brothers and sisters again. But I geuss not. So instead of assimilating you I will instead destroy your little ship same time tomorrow." The voice cackled and then went away. Janeways voice came over the comm two seconds later "All senior officers I need you on the bridg, _now_!. Everyone else...prepare for battle, and pray that we get out of here."

>

"We have approximately 24 hours to live unless we do something about it." That was Janeway. As she was saying this Tom and Seven walked in and immediately went to their posts."We can't outrun the Borg. We can't destroy them through any means found on _Voyager _alone. So instead, we'll be blowing up the nebula." Everyone looked confused.

"And how do we do that?" Asked Chakotay. Janeway whispered something to Seven, who stood up.

"Three days ago, while I was running scans on the nebula I discovered something. A new gas that, mysteriously, has never been found in any other nebula. 3 Miligrams of this gas can create an explosion equall to twenty antimatter bombs if exposed to excessive amounts of Nutrion Particles. This nebula obviously contains much more than that and poses a possibility of forming a new star while anihilating anything within a five light year range." Janeway whipped her head around towards Seven.

"You never told me _that_!"

"I ran some other experiments after I announced my finding to you."

"Well, either way we're going to ignite the nebula anyway." Gasps were heard from throughout the bridge. "And that means we need to create a warp core breach. Or at least find some way of creating enough Nutrion Particles equal to the amount a warp core breach would create. So I'm open to any suggestions that might be made."

"Well," Tom began "Theres a warp core inside one of our shuttles. Maybe we could use that." Janeway nodded.

"Unfortunately, a warp core that size wouldn't create the necessary amount of Nutrion Particles we need." Seven said.

"However," Tuvok said "we could modify a Photon Torpedo warhead, to hold the core as well as an additional three hundred ounds of trilithium, to increase the intensity of the explosion, which should generate more particles."

Janeway looked at Tuvok and said "Do it."

"Hold it," Tom protested "We're _inside_ the nebula. How do we get out without getting ourselves killed?" Janeway bit her lip. She hadn't thought of that yet.

"I know what we could do." Said Harry "We could modify the deflecter dish to emit a magnetic beam. The beam could push away the gas-"

"And enable us to leave the nebula!" Janeway finished for him. "Good thinking, get started on it." Janeway relaxed a little. They had a way out. They had very little time to get out, but it was better than nothing. And for the first time in three days, unable to supress it any longer, she slept.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_Chief Engineer's log, stardate: 1746879._

_Peace has at last been restored to my life. The USS-Enterprise-E was passing by Klingon space, so Miral and I hitched a ride. And I'm glad we did. After I blew-up at my uncle for being too curious about my personal life, things got worse. He began following me around, asking me ridiculous questions about my past, my childhood, everything. I couldn't stand it. Miral was having nightmares as well. Being around so many people with bat'leths, was starting to make me worry too. You never know when some unknown custom your not used to will come up, and you suddenly find out your supposed to kill someone._

B'ellana ended her log entry. Miral slept soundly on the bed next to her. All was quiet. At least until Miral woke up. Or if _Voyager's_ mission failed. B'ellana hoped it would be the first one. She wished she could be with Tom. But he had wanted her to stay with Miral. She knew he meant well, but that didn't ake it any easier for her to accept the fact that he might not return. She also had to take into account that if she were there, _she_ might not return either. And Miral needed her parents with her. Even if it was just one of them.

>

Janeway awoke, again to find herself lying down in sickbay. She looked around and found the docter walking up towards her.

"Hello captian. Nice to see you awake." he said as he grabbed a medical tricorder.

"How long have I been sleeping?" she asked.

"Had I not awoken you, you would've been asleep for days. But since I have, you've only been sleeping for twelve hours." Janeway jumped off the bed while the docter was scannign her.

"The Borg." said Janeway "Whats been going on? Have they attacked, did we get away, has anything even happened yet? What?"

"I believe I can answer those questions captain." a voice said from across the room. Janeway turned and found Chakotay standing in the doorway. The docter walked towards her to try scanning her again but she hurried over to where Chakotay stood.

"We haven't been attacked have we?"

"No, nothings happened yet. We have however made all of the appropriate modifocations. The deflecter dish modification is about to be tested, Tuvok's modified torpedo is finished and is waiting for you to inspect in the flight bay."

"The flight bay?" Janeway said slightly surprised. "Why is the torpedo there?"

"I'll let Tuvok tell you that."

"Okay. And you can tell me about everything else on the way there." Janeway and Chakotay turned and left. The Docter watched them leave and dropped his tricorder on the floor. _Why do I even bother?_

>

The Queen watched silently as the final cube made it's way towards the gap in her new ship. She hadn't had the resources to build an _Exterminator_-class cube at hand when she thought of the idea, so she figured fusing many already-built cubes together would work the same. And it had. But she couldn't take pride in it nearly as much since most of it's parts were worn and tens of years old. She also had the problem of _Voyager_ standing right in front of her. There was something not right in allowing them this much time to live. The very notion went against Borg nature. Yet here she was, allowing them time to enjoy their final moments, and quite possibly, form an escape plan. Then something happened that made her hate her decision even more. Something in the back of her mind told her that a large magnetic field was eminating from _Voyager_. A large region of space on front of the small ship began to expand, pushing away the gases of the nebula, and creating a kind of tube. Then as quickly as the anomaly started, it ended. The gases flowed back into the gap, covering up any evidence of a gap being there. _Voyager's_ crew was up to something.

>

"Test successful captian." Harry said cheerfully. "We just need to leave it on a bit longer, and a gap large enough to escape to warp will be ours."

"Excellent work." Janeway said a little excitedly "Now all I need to see is the torpedo thats in the flight bay." Janeway and Chakotay walked into a turbolift and left the bridge.

"Deck 5." Chakotay said to the turbolift, and they were on their way.

"So, why haven't you told me why the torpedo is in the flight bay?" Janeway asked.

"I felt that you need to see the thing for yourself, instead of taking my word for it." He answered. "Tuvok ran into complications, with a standard torpedo casing, and needed something larger."

"How much larger?"

"Again, you'll just have to see for yourself."

"One of these days, remind me to shoot you for putting me through this." She joked. The turbolift stopped and they got off. The flight bay was only fifty meters from the turbolift, and took hardly any time to reach. Tuvok was inside, scanning a shuttle with a tricorder. Janeway and Chakotay walked into the bay, and looked around.

"Captain" Called Tuvok " I have finished making the torpedo, with the correct modifications."

"Thats great, Tuvok. Where is it?"

Tuvok pointed to the shuttle and said "It is right here."

Janeway looked at the shuttle, and saw that it no longer had it's warp nacelles, or viewports. Instead of the nacelles, Photon torpedos had been strapped to it like engines, probably to act as guidance systems and engines, as well as adding some extra fire-power. As for the viewports, they were just covered up with pieces of durasteel.

"Thats, the torpedo?" She asked.

"Yes."

Janeway began laughing. Tuvok and Chakotay exchanged looks, then turned back to stare at her.

"I fail to see anything comedic about the weapon. It is filled with three-hundred pounds of triliithium, as well as two tons of anti-matter. There is nothing funny about it." Tuvok said to his laughing captain. Janeway fought to control herself, but couldn't help it. Soon Chakotay began to snicker a little bit. Tuvok continued to stare at Janeway until she stopped laughing. When she did she found it hard to speak properly.

"Sorry Tuvok, I couldn't help myself. I was expecting something not so...clunky."

Tuvok looked at the shuttle again, still finding nothing funny about it. "Indeed"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

One hour later Janeway was still giggling about the torpedo in the shuttle bay. To some it seemed to be a waste of a shuttle, but if it was what they needed to do, then so be it. Currently she was on her way to the bridge, they didn't have much time before the Borg did away with them, and they needed to get out, _fast._ Entering the bridge she stopped and looked around the bridge, knowing that this could be the last time she saw it. She sat down in her chair, shifting around in it until she was comfortable. Then she gave the command.

"Red alert. Begin mission: Gamma-16."

The lights on the bridge turned down, and red lights came on all around them.

"Tuvok, torpedo status."

"It is ready to launch. The shuttle bay doors are unlocked and ready to open." He stated plainly.

"Good. Harry, when can we fire the deflecter?"

"In five minutes, captain. it's almost completely charged."

Janeway nodded. "Tom, take us out. Maximum impulse."

"Yes ma'am."

Tom jacked throttle to full and began driving _Voyager_ to freedom.

>

The Queen had been regenerating when the message came, which came instantly through the collective mind. _Voyager_ was moving. She commanded all ships within range to close in. Right as victory was at hand, _Voyager_ dove down like a snub-fighter would in the atmosphere on a planet. _'Bout time someone finally realized they could dive down like that_. She thought. Soon the _Voyager_ was on the outskirts of the blockade. But not for long. They were still flying without sensors, they would have to have visual contact with any obstacles in their path. But the Borg had an advantage, they could use the Cubes and Spheres to act as targeting sensors for the _Exterminator's_ weapons.

>

"All torpedo and phaser banks lock onto _Voyager_ and fire." She loved giving orders like that.

"The Borg are firing captain." Tuvok said calmly.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Janeway yelled. Tom sent the ship into a barrel roll and pulled up as they came out. Most of the shots missed, while about fifty others grazed, or hit them.

"How much longer before we can use the deflecter Harry?" Janeway asked.

"One more minute if I can get some extra power to it. Otherwise it will be another three."

"Reroute the power from the shields."

"That is inadvisable captain." Tuvok said "if we lose shields, we will be in grave danger."

"Then we're in grave danger." She mumbled.

Harry did as he was told and began using the shield's power to charge the deflecter. A phaser beam slammed into _Voyager's _starboard side, sending it into a nasty roll and making everyone aboard sick. Tom tried his best to control the ship, but it refused to level out. He began feeding impulse power into the maneuvering thrusters to help level the ship out. Their spin began to slow down, and soon Tom was again in control. Only now, seven Borg Cubes were in front of them. _Great_. Tom flipped _Voyager_ on it's side and pulled up, turning back in the direction they had come. Then he leveled out and pushed _Voyager's_ nose down. They saw clear nebula skies for a second before several torpedos, that had missed them, filled the view screen.

"Main deflecter dish is charged captain!" Harry exclaimed.

"Activate it!"

Harry's hands flew scross the console. In front of them, a tunnel began to form. A tunnel through the nebula's gases.

"Tuvok, target that _Exterminator_ cube and launch the torpedo."

Tuvok opened the shuttle bay doors, and activated the photon torpedos on the shuttle which shot out of the bay and towards it's unsuspecting target.

"Time until impact is forty seconds." Tuvok announced.

"How much time will we have once it detonates?" Janeway asked.

"Five minutes."

Janeway nodded. _This is going to be one hell of a light show_.

>

_High levels of Trilithium, and Anti-matter detected._ Trillions of voices said simultaniously _Source is unknown. _There was a brief pause. _An unidentified object has been detected, it is moving at a constant velocity in our direction. Impact is immenent unless proven otherwise. _Queen stared at the hologram floating in front of her, which showed detailed positions of all ships within range as tiny little blips. The ships were little blips because visual scanners couldn't penetrate the nebula. One blip in particular, red and moving very quickly, had cought her eye, and it's course was leading it straight towards a very large green blip: The _Exterminator._ Clearly it was an attempt to destroy them...a sad one at that. They had no hope of destroying her ship with any weapon, even if it was packed with highly volatile materials. Unless they knew something that she didn't...but that would mean that they had superior technology of some sort, or some knowledge that the Borg did not have. But that was impossible, they had assimilated a starfleet ship less than two weeks ago, and It had contained no technology more advanced than what _Voyager_ currently had. Something wasn't right, and Queen didn't like it. She sent out an order, which was carried out immediately.

_Your ship is ready._ They said._ Five drones await to escort you._

_>_

_Voyager _had just started into the tunnel when a bright light shone forth from behind them. Janeway activated a screen on her chair and accessed a holo-cam on the rear of the ship. Unfortunately she couldn't see anything, the brightness of the explosion drowned out everything around it. But there was no doubt in her mind that the explosion was quickly catching up to them.

"How long until we can activate the warp drive?" She asked

"About three-" Harry never finished, for at that moment something form behind hit them.

"Captain, a Borg ship has just fired on us." Tuvok reported.

"What ship?" Janeway asked "I thought they were all destroyed?"

"It is the Queen's private vessel." Tuvok announced.

A tremor shook _Voyager_ again, and the consoles began to flash eratically.

"She's penetrating our shields!" Harry yelled "She just hit our deflecter dish!"

Harry really hadn't needed to say that, it was already pretty apparent. The tunnel was collapsing. An evil cackling sounded over the comm system.

"Did you really think you could get away?" The foul voice of the queen taunted "You really are nothing more than a bunch of fools!"

She fired again, penetrating the shields and directly hitting the right warp nacelle. Voyager swerved to the right, veering off course.

"As you can see I really am in now mood to be messed with. You have been more than enough trouble to the Borg for too long!" She fired again, hitting the other nacelle, causing _Voyager_ to veer again, this time to the left. Tom corrected the change and continued on course.


	15. Chapter 15

Time seemed to slow down as the tunnel collapsed in on them. They didn't have much of a chance for escape but the chance was there. One of the things in question was whether Janeway would take it. The other thing in question was would they survive if she took the chance?

"Can we engage the warp drive, Harry?" She asked.

Harry checked his console "Yes, Captain. But..."

Janeway waited for him to elaborate.

"The second we hit the nebula again, there's a chance the warp drive would overload to the point of a breach. The sudden deceleration also might burn out our engines. Either way, we'd be dead."

Janeway thought about it. Well, at least those questions had been answered. Unfortunately the answered hadn't been what she wanted to hear. How had things gone so wrong? She had faught the beings of the Delta Quadrant for many years, and now, two years after leaving that region of space, they were going to die.

Janeway slammed her fist on the arm of her chair. This wasn't fair. There had to be _some _way out of this. And then, there it was. Janeway looked out at the swirling gases as they slowly caved in on them. _Swirling_. That meant that there could still be a spiral of clear space for them to go through! That is, if they could plot a course through it at warp speed. Another chance, another question. But one worth taking unanswered.

"Perhaps I shouldn't kill all of you..." The Queen said over the comm "Maybe one of you is worth sparing..."

"I can assure you, you don't need to do that." Janeway told her while sending a private message to Tom who nodded his head without turning towards her.

"Is that really you captain? Surely you would want at least _one_ of the crew to survive."

"Well of course I would... If I knew that they wouldn't be assimilated the second they stepped aboard your ship!"

The Queen didn't answer. Janeway hadn't expected her to. Of course, she also hadn't expected the Queen to beam herself directly onto the bridge either. Which is exactly what happened. Nine phasers were drawn, one by each person on the bridge, and aimed at the intruder. But only eight of those nine were lowered when the Queen beamed herself off the bridge.

Now, most people know that when boarding a Federation starship uninvited, you have about ten seconds to make a move before you're overrun. The Borg Queen had made the most of that precious time. At the three second interval, she had grabbed and tranquilized Tom. At seven seconds she had planted modified nanoprobes into the conn, and at the tenth second, she left the bridge...and so had Tom. She had abducted him.

Everyone on the bridge was in shock. The speed with which the Queen had moved was incredible. And the fact that she had taken Tom only shook the crew up further. Janeway seemed to be the only one, other than Tuvok, capable of taking action.

"I've targeted the Borg ship Captain." Tuvok announced.

"Fire!" Janeway said as she ran to the conn "Harry, see if you can't get a lock on Tom and bring him back!".

"Already working on it Captain." Harry replied.

A lance of light leapt from one of the foreward Phaser strips towards the Borg. A band of energy from the rapidly gaining explosion intercepted the phaser beam's tip and slammed into the Borg ship instead. Something within the Borg ship exploded and bodies began streaming from the great hole and into the maelstrom of fire.

"Direct hit." Tuvok stated "The Borg ship is drifting away from us."

"I could've told you that was going to happen, Captain." Seven said from her station "The explosion has triggered a chain reaction like I said it would, and it is seeking more sources of Nutrion particles. The phaser beam was a prime source."

"How nice of you to tell us now." Janeway muttered "Tuvok, cease fire. We may kill Tom doing that."

_That is if it hasn't already_. But she kept that bit unsaid.

There were voices. Hundreds of them. And in an instant, they were silenced. Radiation poured into the Queen's ship like water through a burst dam, killing anything and everything in it's path. Every deck had been depressurized and all had sustained heavy damage. Every major systems was failing. Soon, even impulse engines would be lost, and the Queen too would die. The human, that she now clutched in her grasp, was only protected by the severely limited personal shield projecter that had been installed on her body. But it wouldn't last long, soon it's power source would fail, and they would both be killed by the radiation that had permeated the ship. To their left, the Queen could see straight out into the nebula and it's wrath, for that was how close they had been to the great fire that had ripped this part of the ship apart.

Emergency force fields came on and pressure began returning to the wrecked area around them. Dead drones could be seen everywhere, and no survivors could be seen anywhere. She could only hope that this human would be worth the expense of the fleet Janeway had destroyed.

_Janeway_. She should have taken _her_ instead. Although the last time she had been assimilated, thousands of Borg had been severed from the Collective.

_Our ship's systems are failing, and we are losing speed. _The last living Borg told her. _You must leave in the _Kir'sha

The _Kir'sha_ was her personal escape pod, specially eqipped with an enhanced Transwarp Coil and weapons. And that's exactly where she was going to go.

_Activate and the detonate the Transwarp Coil once I've left._ She told them. Voyager _must be eliminated._

"The Borg ship is still adrift." Tuvok announced.

"I can't get a lock on Tom, Captain." Harry told her "There's too much interference."

"Get a tracter beam on that ship!" Janeway yelled.

Harry pressed a few buttons on his console, but wasn't rewarded with the confirmation tone of a solid lock.

"No luck, Captain."

Janeway slammed her fist down onto the conn. Things weren't going her way either. The station wasn't responding to any of her commands. Whatever the Borg Queen had done to it, she had succeeded.

Janeway shifted her gaze to a medium sized device sitting next to the conn. Her eyes went wide as she looked upon it's polished black finish and outdated looking controls. She knew what it was, and she knew what Tom had done with it. She couldn't help herself from thinking of using it. She really didn't want to use it. But something inside her forced herself to pick it up off the floor. A feeling of excitement filled her and burned through her veins as she placed onto the conn. Tuvok noticed.

"Are you certain that, that: the device you are attempting to install, will be able to bypass the Borg's sabotage?" he asked.

"No." She admitted "But what's the harm in trying?"

Tuvok didn't answer.

Janeway caught a brief whiff of plasteel burning as the twin cables burned through the surface of the console to the other side. The few seconds that passed seemed like forever before the control deck lit up and announced that it had successfully hacked into the ship's systems.

"Harry," She said without delay "I need you to try and get me some extra speed. Try using the warp core to accelerate us beyond maximum impulse." doing that would mean abandoning her earlier idea. But at this point, it was irrelevant.

"Uh, Captain, are you sure-"

Janeway turned to face him. A new fire in was in her eyes. Like the fire of a predator's prey trying to survive, willing to do anything it would take.

"-I'll try." He decided to say.

She smiled at him, faintly, then turned all her attention to the task at hand. She grabbed the control stick in the center of the deck and tested it's sensitivity by nudging it to the right. _Voyager_ made an all-too-quick turn to the right, out of the collapsing tunnel, and into the nebula. Janeway nudged the stick to the left in an attempt to correct their course. _Voyager_ overturned and went into a sideways spin. She tried pulled the stick to the right again, but _just _a little bit. _Voyager's_ spin slowed down and soon they were going straight again.

"I think I have a feel for the controls now." Janeway announced.

"I couldn't tell." Tuvok said almost sarcastically.

Janeway ignored the comment "Where's that speed Harry?"

"Working on it, Captain. It should be... there!" As if on cue, _Voyager_ lurched foreward and sped into the nebula at a blazing speed. Janeway held the control stick in a death grip, fearing that her sweating hands might make her slip. Unfortunately this made her pull the trigger. a Phaser beam launched itself foreward and was intercepted by another band of energy. Only this time the effect it had was far worse than before. The energy band spawned new ones, and they in turn spawned their own.

Luckily, _Voyager_ as going at such great speed that they passed them without a hitch. Almost. One hell of an energy band came up from behind and slammed into _Voyager's _hull. All shields overloaded and shut down, allowing the energy band to strike _Voyager_ unprotected. The violent shaking that followed was too much for anything to withstand. Consoles broke free of their braces, people were sent bouncing around the rooms and halls, and worst of all, the warp core was automatically ejected. Janeway heard the viewscreen crack and break free before blacking out. Voyager tumbled freely and uncontrollably out of the nebula. There were no signs that anyone left aboard was still alive. The explosion finally reached the nebula's edge, and from there, it grew to twice it's size within ten seconds, and from there, it consumed all space whithin thirty light years. Farther than Seven had expected it to. _Voyager_ was nowhere to be found within...

_I'm dead_. That was Janeway's first thought when she awoke. There wasn't a sound around her, and she had the distinct feeling of floating freely in space.

"Captain," a voice said gently beside her "can you hear me?"

"Doctor?" Janeway said weakly without opening her eyes "Is that you?"

"Yes, it is." the hologram replied. "Now hold still."

"Do I have a choice?"

"In the condition you're in, I don't know. Perhaps if Sick Bay hadn't been ripped from the very foundation of the ship, I would run an analysis."

"Mmm." Janeway groaned "How much of the ship _is_ left?"

Janeway couldn't see him frowning, but she knew he was "Only seventy-six percent of the saucer section remains. The other twenty-five percent is now part of the large star we're in orbit around, along with the rest of the ship. Every deck is open to space at some point or another, and of course, all the power we have is being fed into life support. We can't even afford the luxury of gravity."

"Is that why I feel like I'm floating?"

"Yes it is." The doctor's tricorder began beeping, and a sudden spike of pain erupted in Janeway's abdomen.

"What's the damage?"

"One of your kidneys has ruptured, there's minor breach in your heart, and part of your nervious system is completely inactive. I need to perform surgery on you soon, but if someone doesn't happen upon us, you will die."

Janeway wanted to nod, but her neck wouldn't budge. She couldn't even feel it.

"I'm going to give a mild sedative mixed with a healing agent, Captain." the doctor told her "It will help your body to preserve itself while we wait."

Janeway nodded, or at least she tried to. The doctor placed the hypospray to Janeway's neck, and injected her with it's contents. Before the doctor could leave, Janeway said "We saved them."

"Captain?"

"We saved them." She said again. "We saved the people of the Alpha Quadrant." Then she drifted to sleep, a slight smile on her face.


	16. Epilogue

Epilogue

3 days later, the _USS Enterprise-E_ found the remains of _Voyager_ on the outskirts of the newly formed Crion Star. A rescue team was quickly assembled, and fifty-eight members of _Voyager's_ crew were recovered. Among the survivors were Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay, Seven of Nine, Neelix, Tuvok, and the Doctor. The bodys of other crewman were found scattered around the star, many of them lightyears away from the Crion Star. No signs of Lieutenant Tom Paris were found, and he has been declared dead.

The escape of _Voyager_, however, will forever remain a mystery. All records of _Voyager's _time in the Crion Nebula were destroyed when during the blast that, somehow, took it from within the maelstrom, and dropped it ten lightyears away from the star. Traces of transwarp signatures were found in the surrounding area, but it was decided that the Borg simply passed through that space to study the anomoly that _Voyager_ had caused. The Crion Star will forever be a reminder of the sacrifice _Voyager_, and it's crew, made.

"

The Borg Queen piloted the _Kir'sha_ as it shot through space in transwarp. Her hostage hadn't made a sound since his initial assimilation in his first moments off of _Voyager_. But his assimilation was incomplete. Once she got him back to Borg space, she would finish what she started three years ago...


End file.
